In networked computer systems, electronic messages are regularly generated and sent among various computers connected within the network. As the messages are transmitted from one node or computer station to another, there is a need to keep track of various parameters relative to the messages being transmitted so that such messages may be tracked to determine the paths taken, the nodes involved in transmission of the message, times of transmission, etc. In one particular application, a service node is enabled to provide various services to electronic messages received from clients and to generate other messages in accordance with the services performed. For example, a client may send a single parts ordering message, which may in fact be a package of individual messages, to a service node and the service node or server site will generate a plurality of messages to different suppliers from the single communication from the client. Other processing services may also be provided (such as inventory updates, order processing steps, return credit calculations, translations to various formats, etc.) before the order is transmitted from the service node to the suppliers. In all of these situations there is a need to track the original message from the client through the various service stages of the service node to the supplier or other ultimate recipient of the communication from the service node.
The tracking function is performed at the service provider server or service node, as well as intermediate nodes along the way, by maintaining one or a series of related databases in which messages received from clients are logged. As services are performed relative to the message, the identification of those services is also input to the database such that at any given time, a client message can be accessed and tracked through the database to determine what services have been performed pursuant to the client message and what the current status of the client request is. Unfortunately, however, in the past whenever a new message is generated in response to a performed service for example, the new message takes on a new identity. Accordingly, when many services are performed in response to an original message, it is difficult to track any given resulting message back to the communication from which the resulting messages were derived.
Thus, there is a need for an improved processing system in which generated or synthesized messages are identified and tracked in a manner to enable easy identification and access to the derivation of subsequently produced messages.